Flowers to Say Thank You, and Slippers Make Warm Feet

Sharing some flowers with you all for all your hard work with knitting, crocheting, looming and donating throughout the 13 years Bridge and Beyond has been in existence.  This pink Lilly was my favorite.  It always had a wonderful aroma.  But, the squirrels and or chipmunks apparently really like it too, and kept digging it up.  I replanted it too many times to count and each subsequent year the flower got lighter in color and lost it's aroma.  I finally gave up and stopped replanting it, so this picture is from about 10 years ago.

These day lillies were starts from my parents yard that I enjoyed for a good many years and then they got so tall and hung over you couldn't walk on the walk, so I took them out and replanted the area.

This is one of the replants, but it didn't make it to year two.

But these Asters did, along with lots of Phlox.

As the weather is turning cold, leaves are falling; there really are no more flowers in the yards to enjoy, so hopefully these pictures made you smile.

2010 was the first year we started collecting and donating slippers.

2010   34

2011   128

2012   153

2013   150

2014   121

2015   105

2016   91

2017   53

2018   13

2019   27

2020   4

2021   52....as of Nov 11th

Total 931 pairs of warm, dry feet...........wonderful work folks, truly.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Knitting Aids Homeless Here at Bridge and Beyond

Thank you Pat C for this awesome donation of knitted goodies!  Pat has been very busy indeed.  Look at the nice collection of corner to corner knitted cotton washcloths...in the always famous Grandma's favorite pattern.  Lots of different colors.  

And hats, mittens and a scarf.  Please click to enlarge the picture so you can see the details.  The hats are a variety of sizes and colors, and styles.  Something for everyone.  

But.............. scroll down please

More hats and mittens.  Again a wide range of styles, colors, and sizes.  All the hats and mittens are nicely tagged with size.  Special thank you.  The hats that look long and skinny are super stretchy and so will fit a variety of head sizes.  Be sure and notice the gray in top right corner with a beautiful cable.  So well done.

Drum roll, this donation puts us over 100% of our goal for hats!!  Woot Woot!!  That's exciting, and look how we're doing on the mitten goal...this donation puts us slightly over 92%.  You know how excited I get when we get mittens.  

Folks I've been posting information about Bridge and Beyond since Nov 1st when the announcement was made about operations ceasing for Bridge and Beyond come Dec 31st of the year.  If you've missed reading those post, please scroll back to Nov 1 nd come forward.

We started small and grew.  And with our growth we were able to help more people in more shelters.  Over our 13 years we've accomplished quite a bit for a true grass roots charity with everyone pulling together.  Many thanks to you all.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Cro-Knit Scarves Warm Homeless

Thank you Karen S for this thoughtful donation knitted scarves and a loomed hat.  The sun was truly streaking through the day I opened and photographed this donation....that doesn't happen to often this time of year here in central Ohio.  So I welcome the sun screaking, though it makes it a bit difficult for you to see Karen's donation really well.  The colors on top left are tan and green, middle one is light blue and brown.  The third one is the easiest to see pink and maroon.  

As you all probably know by now, Karen uses the croknit technique, so her donations are easy to identify. I call it the Karen special, lol.

With this donation, we're a bit over 96% of our goal for hats!  How cool is that folks!!

I've been posting snip-its of stats and history of Bridge and Beyond since making the announcement on Nov 1st, that Bridge and Beyond would stop operations on Dec 31st of this year, 2021.  If you've not read the announcement or any of the following post in subsequent days, please do click or scroll back and read.

AND, please continue to pop in daily for updates with our current numbers, as well as history about our 13 years of operation.  As of the writing of this blog post we have 2,189 blog posts.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Sunset of Bridge and Beyond, Afghan Totals

A picture I took quite a few years ago on a vacation with hubby in southern California.  Thought I'd share this sunset with you all, as we've been discussing the end (the sunset if you will) of Bridge and Beyond as of Dec 31st of this year.  If you've not been here recently, you may not have read the notice on November 1st.  I've been posting about it, as I continue to post our current donations.

I've been sharing stats and history of Bridge and Beyond since it's beginnings (sunrise...but no, I don't have pictures of sunrise, as I'm not an early riser), in Dec of 2008.

Scarves click HERE

Socks click HERE

Mittens totals click HERE

Hats click HERE

As the word is getting out about the closure of Bridge and Beyond, several of you have contacted me to express your wish to continue to donate to someone/somewhere.  I am working on some alternatives and will be posting more about that as time goes on.  

Anyone local can take their donations directly to Homeless Families Foundation at 33 North Grubb Street (just off West Broad Street), Columbus, Ohio  43215

614-461-9247.  Here's the link to the webpage.  There are many ways to help beyond donating knitted or crocheted items.  There are volunteer opportunities, and the ability to donate $$.  The contact person is Chad Gardner 614-715-8551 or email him at cgardner@homelessfamiliesfoundation.org.  Currently donations can be delivered on Monday's from 10 am - 1 pm.

For those not local, please stay tuned; as I will be posting additional information.

I thought I would take this opportunity to share our stats for the knitted and crocheted afghans we donated through the years:

2011   55

2012   55

2013   55

2014   32

2015   24

2016   36

2017   32

2018   34

2019   14

2020   40

2021   19...to date as of Nov 5, 2021

**Total donated 396 afghans!

You may have noticed that we don't have numbers for donated afghans before 2011, this reflects some of our growth through the years.  It was at that time we grew enough to extend what we made and donated for a program I called Welcome Home.  Our afghans were given to folks who transitioned from shelters to a home situation.  They received a package of items to help them get started and our afghans were part of that with a congratulations letter that included information regarding the nature of family heirlooms and how to care/launder the afghans.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Announcement, History, and Socks to Warm Cold Feet

In recent days I made the announcement that Bridge and Beyond will cease to exist come December 31st of this year, 2021.  There are many factors involved with this decision that I've blogged about in the past week.  One primary reason is difficulty with mail service that has substantially changed; making it very difficult to ensure your donations are protected when I travel.

I've been posting totals of the amazing work so many of you have participated in over the last 13 years, as Bridge and Beyond's first blog post was Dec 2, 2008; and our first donation was received on Dec. 9, 2008 from our friend Bunny.

On December 5, 2008 Sunny Fairy designed our blog logo.  

Both Sunny Fairy and Bunny were early supporters of Bridge and Beyond.  While they are not currently active with us, I do so appreciate their help in the early formation of Bridge and Beyond.

My SIL, Jan (married to my older brother, Chuck), introduced me to Rae when I first expressed a desire to set up a charity to help the homeless here in central Ohio.  Rae was and continues to be a church friend of Jan and Chuck's.  She prepares hot meals on Sat. mornings to feel those living out in the elements.  It is her group that we first supported by supplying her with warm hats and scarves in the first month of Bridge and Beyond, December of 2008.

We continued to attract more pairs of helping hands and accepted other donated items such as socks, slippers, cotton washcloths, afghans, and mittens; as well as personal care items throughout  the years.  We were able to supply not only Rae's group, but several homeless shelters here in Columbus, as well as several schools in a depressed area in need.

As I dug out wool socks this morning to warm my feet, I thought I'd share how many pairs of socks we've donated through the years.

SOCKS:

2009    70

2010   101

2011   333

2012    281

2013   281

2014   199

2015   201

2016   135

2017    29

2018    68

2019   113

2020   107

2021   193....as of Nov 1st

Total 1,830 pairs of socks to warm 1,830 pairs of feet.

Please continue to check in to see more stats and stories about the work that's been done here on Bridge and Beyond over the 13 years it's been able to help the Homeless here in central Ohio.

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.

Where Do Donations Come From? Mittens Totals

This is a colorful map (more so than the one at the very bottom of the blog, and this map gives the states name.  Over the 13 years Bridge and Beyond has been busy knitting and crocheting for charity, we've had participation from 41 states, 82% of the country.  AND donations from around the globe from England, France, Germany, and Puerto Rico.  That's pretty impressive I think, how about you?

The ONLY states where at least one person hasn't donated are:

Alabama

Alaska

Arkansas

Connecticut

Mississippi

Montana

Nevada

Rhodes Island

Wyoming

**Unless I've missed documenting someone along the line.

I remember the donation from England was from a man I had gotten to know in my early blogging years, he sent money and asked me to buy socks with it.  The one from Germany was a military wife stationed in Germany.  France...I think from memory was a lady who had a gift shop and sent things from the end of the year from her shop that didn't sell.  Puerto Rico was actually more than one donation, DaMaris.

Just thought I'd share some our stories, our history if you will.

Mittens aren't the easiest item to make, so thought you might like to see how we faired with those over the years.

2009 our first full year 66

2010                              151

2011                              258

2012                              300

2013                              300

2014                              130

2015                              123

2016                              108

2017                              120

2018                                75

2019                                66

2020                                81

2021                                72....so far, as of Oct 31st

1, 850 pairs of warm hands!  Our best years were 2012 and 2013 with 300 pairs each years, and our lowest year was 2019 with 66.

Remember to keep checking in, as I will continue to post donations and update totals as we make our way to Dec 31st, when we will close down Bridge and Beyond.  If you've missed the announcement, please click HERE.               

**The counts on our progress bars are current. All donations regardless of size and number are valued. All donations are appreciated. The Power of One is awesome, and when we work together The Power of One becomes The Power of Many.